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Barrel work-welding a hole shut?!


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This is COMPLETELY out of left field, but someone asked me if it was possible to weld a demilled barrel and make it operational? The working theory is to put a carbon rod into the bore and then fill weld the 1/4 demilled hole shut. Obviously the area would be prepped, cleaned, and so on. Has anyone ever seen, heard of, or tried this?

 

As insane as it sounds, it could actually work but Im looking for anyone who has done something or seen good/bad results?

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Several problems:

 

Welding is going to alter the heat treating in the area of the weld. You're going to get areas that are softer than intended and others that are hard and brittle. You can alleviate this with pre-heating, controlling the interpass temps and post-weld heat treatment but still probably not going to be 100%. you don't know the composition of the barrel but if you assume a 4140 equivalent you'd probably be close

 

Welding a small localized area will almost certainly warp the barrel, maybe not a lot, but even a few thousandths could be a problem

 

You cannot completely fill the hole without ruining the rifling so depending on the size of the hole the low spot you are going to have to leave may or may not affect accuracy. Probably not a big deal in an RPD but still an issue

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Since the introduction of non-sporting rifle caliber barrel destruction for import, with anywhere from one to four holes, lots of attempts have been made to repair the holes. There is no perfect way short of a full barrel boring and insertion of a liner but that is extremely expensive, who will do it and the liner will not stand up to fullauto firing.
Most MG barrels can be reproduced and there are now several barrel makers who can make barrels with a decent expectation of reasonable durability with fullauto firing.

Polish RPD barrels are available. Chinese made show up now and then and every once in a while RPD barrels of other makers show up.

Repros avaiable, too......

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